DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH

The Punjab government on Wednesday appointed senior IAS officer KAP Sinha as the new chief secretary, replacing Anurag Verma, according to an official order.

Sinha is a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Punjab cadre.

He was earlier holding the charge of special chief secretary of revenue, rehabilitation and disaster management, agriculture and farmers' welfare, horticulture and soil and water conservation.

Verma, a 1993-batch IAS officer, will now preside over the same array of portfolios as the additional chief secretary.

Sinha is the fourth chief secretary to be appointed in the AAP government in the past two-and-a-half years. Verma assumed the charge of the chief secretary on July 1, 2023, succeeding Vijay Kumar Janjua, who retired on June 30 last year. Janjua replaced Anirudh Tewari in July 2022.

The transfer at the top level of the administration came close on the heels of recent resignations by four of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's aides. Mann's officer on special duty Onkar Singh was removed last month, while director of communications Navneet Wadhwa resigned last week. Director (media relations) Baltej Pannu and director of social media Manpreet Kaur have also resigned.
(editor@dailyworld.in)